You don’t need to be an Einstein to see that capitalism has problems, but apparently it helps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Via Sarah Rios. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Originally shared by ****<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes (often?) it seems the solutions we seek are already here, just waiting for us to catch up to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Einstein is \u201cconvinced\u201d that the only way to eliminate the \u201cgrave evils\u201d of capitalism is \u201cthrough the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals.\u201d For Einstein, the \u201cworst evil\u201d of predatory capitalism is the \u201ccrippling of individuals\u201d through an educational system that emphasizes an \u201cexaggerated competitive attitude\u201d and trains students \u201cto worship acquisitive success.\u201d But the problems extend far beyond the individual and into the very nature of the political order.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n “Private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands\u2026 The result of these developments is an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organized political society. This is true since the members of legislative bodies are selected by political parties, largely financed or otherwise influenced by private capitalists who, for all practical purposes, separate the electorate from the legislature. The consequence is that the representatives of the people do not in fact sufficiently protect the interests of the underprivileged sections of the population. Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education). It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The political economy Einstein describes is one often lambasted by right libertarians as an impure variety of crony capitalism, one not worthy of the name, but the physicist is skeptical of the claim, writing \u201cthere is no such thing as a pure capitalist society.\u201d Private owners always secure their privileges through the manipulation of the political and educational systems and the mass media.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n The predatory situation Einstein observes is one of extreme alienation among all classes; \u201cAll human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the na\u00efve, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n This last resonated pretty strongly. My time with the Golden Horde of Ta-Nehisi Coates taught me that in a slave society, everyone<\/em> is in chains, in some form of bondage. Anything that prevents us from connecting, on whatever level, and relating to each other as equals is a form of bondage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n